


The Black Hearts

by Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath



Series: The Makings of Team CRME [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Bisexual Mercury, Domestic Violence, Gay Romance, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, Merc's parents are assholes., Physical Abuse, Swearing, Torture, Verbal Abuse, Villain Origin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-03 02:23:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13331493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath/pseuds/Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath
Summary: Mercury has had a pretty rough life. Having two parents who don't really care that much about you doesn't help.[Title changed from “Mercury’s Pain”.][Bonus chapter (Chapter 4) uploaded.]





	1. Born in a Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> I know I said I was going to start on the group fic, but I just wanted to make sure that I had the first chapters of Mercury and Roman's fics done first so it would go in order and the group fic wouldn't be counted as "Part 3." (It's an organizational thing.) And this may be the darkest fic in the series. Even Cinder's story doesn't get this bad.
> 
>  **EDIT:** For those who have been following the fic and are wondering, you aren’t going crazy. I did change the name because I wasn’t exactly too fond of the first one. I just needed to change it. I’ll explain it a little more in the next chapter update.

You know, my story isn’t that great. I could go on and on about how tragic my life was. Oh, please. Like I’m gonna be the kind of guy that’s giving a sob-story for sympathy. My life is what it is. There’s no real getting past that. I don’t need pity. What I need is a better life. And unless you’re handing those out? Don’t waste my time. What’s my problem? Well, my dad’s a psychopath and my mom’s not much better.

Marcus Black is my dad’s name. He served a while in Atlas as a soldier. Though, he wasn’t really the patriotic type or one for following orders. Mostly, he took the job just to kill a few people here and there. And he did. Something he always tells me is that there’s nothing like the thrill of killing. Well, that and “Don’t touch my whiskey or I’ll beat you to death.” You only had to learn that lesson once.

My mom is Melanie Black. She was a black-haired nurse at the hospital my dad was admitted to when he nearly lost an arm. I guess she liked him for whatever reason. Or was just willing to put up with him. But not long after that, they hooked up and got hitched. Looking at my dad now, he doesn’t seem like the marriage type. Come to think of it, neither does my mom. It seemed like she never liked him as much as she originally did. There were always long nights where she yelled at him for being a belligerent drunkard. Those fights usually ended with him beating her.

It didn’t seem to affect her that much. Even late at night when I saw her cleaning herself up, she just seemed annoyed if anything. Though, that usually guaranteed that they’d be screaming at each other for a different reason the next night. It was always like this. They took out their pent-up aggression on each other. But like I said, Dad’s a psychopath. He only beat her because he couldn’t outright kill her for it. And I’m sure Mom knew that. So, she just pushed him to that point I guess. Maybe she’s a masochist or something. Heck, I don’t know.

But one thing I do know about my dad is that he is one sadistic man. After leaving Atlas, he went on to be an assassin. And a pretty good one at that. He always got the target he was looking for and made a bit of money doing so. It helped that most of his contacts were in the criminal underworld. They had the money to pay. I don’t know how he did it with the alcoholism, but I guess he’s just that good that it doesn’t really matter. I’m pretty sure he had at least seventy kills to his name just from that job alone. And he would go for anyone if the price is right.

He’d usually spend a lot of the money on booze. And it made things very difficult in the Black House. Well, more than they needed to be. When you have parents that hate each other and, in turn, take some of that out on you, it’s not gonna be pretty. And I almost forgot to introduce myself. I’m the spawn of such an unholy union. Mercury. Whenever the old man didn’t beat my mom, he’d just take it out on me. Mom didn’t beat me, but she liked to scream at me as much as she did at Dad. Like how she never wanted me, or some stuff like that. (You’d almost think she just likes screaming at people.)

Mom also liked going out with other guys in her spare time. Whenever Dad was out drinking or killing people, she’d bring some guy home. If I needed more proof that Mom and Dad weren’t that great together, that was it. One of the many things that Mom would yell about to my dad. Usually in very vulgar fashion.

You might be (justifiably) asking yourself “Why are your parents still together anyway?” Well, the answer to that question eludes the entire Black family. Mom says it’s because they have me to take care of, but their very vocal displeasure of my existence proves otherwise. Dad says it’s because she’d be lost without him, but her cheating doesn’t help. Honestly, I think that this is just the only way they know how to live. There is no one else who could put up with each other for as long as they have. That’s probably the only reason why.

And how did this affect the young child that was little Mercury Black? Well, I learned pretty quickly to put up with pain. To put it simply, I didn’t get enough hugs when I was a kid, so I just don’t care about anyone anymore. Mom and Dad hated each other, and they hated me. It was all just a huge mess. Sometimes, Dad didn’t have to kill the mark right away, so I’d have to hear them screaming at night while I was trying to sleep. You think my mom would have a problem with that. But the only problem she had was that it was keeping her up at night, too.

All I know is pain and hatred. At first, it kinda scares you and makes you fearful. After a while, you just stop caring. So, yeah. I’m not asking for your pity. I’m just asking for a better life. Unfortunately, that’s not an option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, both of Merc's parents are really terrible parents. I want to try this angle of extreme dysfunction in Mercury's life, making that the reason he's so messed up. If that is the kind of environment that you grow up in, growing up to be a sadistic sociopath seems like a pretty logical conclusion. Speaking of which, while Mercury calls his dad a psychopath, his mom also has some sociopathic traits as well. It's really a back-forth on how they treat each other. Marcus is just more violent than Melanie.
> 
> But I'm hoping to explore a little more with this family dynamic when I officially start working on the fic. After I get some progress on the CRME fic, this one will be updated as well.


	2. A Murderer's Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcus teaches his son some "valuable" lessons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little opening note just to clarify. Mercury is sixteen at the start of this chapter. I didn't have a way to work into the story earlier so I thought I'd mention it now just to get it out of the way.

Dad and I are out in a field as he teaches me how to fight. He always says that there’s nothing like the feeling of beating a man to death with your bare hands, so I guess this is his idea of father-son bonding. I go for punches, but he blocks them every time. Right cross to the jaw, but my Aura protects me. “Come on, Mercury,” he drunkenly taunts. “A baby could’ve dodged that one.” Good old encouraging father. I try and try, but he never is happy. Sometimes I wonder why I try to please him. I can’t think of one nice thing he’s ever done for me.

I get into another fighting stance to fight him again. I see him smirk and I don’t know why. He throws a jab right towards my face and I block it with my forearms. Only for him to punch me in the side. I go for a few more punches, but blocks them, too. How is he so fast when he’s had, like, half a bottle of whiskey already? He goes for a kick to my face. When I block it, it nearly throws me off balance. Only for him to punch me in the chest. I literally got the breath knocked out of me as I get pushed back.

And I just hear him chuckling. I swear, the only difference between training and child abuse is the fact that I can actually use this in my life. When he’s just beating me, all it teaches me is how crappy my life really is. “Come on! You’ve gotta be better than that.”

“Maybe you should go easier on me,” I say.

“You think anyone else is gonna go easy on you? Now get ready.”

He throws more punches and kicks and I block them. He starts going even faster. I have no idea how he does it, but it’s baffling. When he goes for another kick, and I back up and nearly lose my balance. He smirks again and lets me attacks. He just blocks and dodges my punches. When I finally throw a kick, he grabs my leg and knocks me on my back. “You really need to work on your balance, son. It’s terrible.”

As I get up on my own (since he can’t even be bothered to pick me up), I say, “Cheap move!”

“And a cheap move is the difference between life and death. If you don’t have the skill, what’s the point of fighting fair? Now get up. That’s enough training for today.”

I frown as I follow him back to the house. We got a nice place in the city thanks to the military benefits. After everything he’s done, he doesn’t deserve it at all. I watch him take another swig of his bottle of whiskey and once again hope that liver damage will suddenly catch up to him and kill him already.

We walk in the front door and already smell Mom cooking some dinner. She’s a good cook. For someone who really doesn’t care about us, she does her best to make some pretty great food. She says she puts the effort in because there’s no use in making mediocre food. Though, sometimes I feel she just makes it good to poison Dad since he’ll eat all of it. I have yet to see that theory proven true.

“Mel!” he shouts. “Is the dinner ready?”

“Almost,” she shouts back.

“Well, hurry it up! Mercury and I are home!”

“I fucking noticed, you drunken jackass!” Mom always had a way with words. I’m surprised that she swears more than he does. “By the way, you got a call.”

She holds out his scroll and he quickly snatches the thing out of her hand. He looks at the number. “Do you know who it is?”

“I don’t listen to your calls, Marcus. I’m not your damn secretary.”

He glares at her as he dials back the number. Things were always like this. For once I wished they’d just stop being angry all the time. At very least, they could learn to tolerate each other more. As Dad makes the call, I watch Mom set the table. As usual, she doesn’t look too happy about it.

But as dad finished the call, he grabbed me again. “Come on, son. We’re going out.”

“Where the hell are you going, Marcus?!”

“Yeah, we just got back,” I say.

“I got a job,” he says, “It’ll be an easy one, so I can get some training in for him. Even someone as bad as you could take care of this hit.”

“But I just finished dinner!” she shouts. “Who’s gonna eat all this?!”

“We’ll eat it later. Let’s go, Mercury.”

“No! Fuck that!” She stomps closer to him with fury in her eyes. “I busted my ass trying to get this done and you’re not even gonna sit down for five minutes and eat it? It’s not like you’re gonna get paid less if he’s not dead sooner!”

“The guy is on his way out of town!” he shouts back. “I’m not letting him go away at this point! So, we’re going now!”

This was pretty common. Dad might’ve had a job to go to during dinner and he goes without a second thought. He didn’t usually bring me along, though. “You’re takin’ the kid with you, too?”

“Why do you have a problem with it?!”

“You know, I put up with it when you left on your own, but I’ve still got a lot of food here to eat! You’re telling me I’m supposed to let it all go to waste?!”

“You know what?! Why don’t you call over one of your boyfriends to eat it! Maybe they’ll appreciate you wining and dining them!”

Mom slaps him in the face. And I can already see him getting angrier as she walks away. “Fucking asshole.”

That’s when Dad grabs her head and slams it into the fridge. I wince when I see blood show up on the fridge door. “YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH MY JOB, MEL?!” He punches her in the face and lets her fall to the ground. “Get over it! It’s the only thing that’s even putting the food you make on the table! So, if I want to let that food go to waste, I have the damn right to do that! I’m paying for it anyway!”

She gets back up and only gives him a cold glare as she spits blood back in his face. She never was one to take a beating laying down. Unfortunately for her, he punches her in the gut and she doubles over in pain. He simply grabs my wrist again and pulls me out the door. I still hear Mom shouting and cursing at him. It’s not the first time I’ve seen this sort of thing. And I doubt it’ll be the last. Honestly, it stopped being distressing and started becoming annoying a long time ago.

* * *

The man my dad was hired to take out was a guy who worked in the mob and knows a lot about how things work in things work in this job. His name is Shade Stevens. Dad said he had no combat training, but he’ll try to fight if he could. He said to bring bandages just in case you got injured on a hit and your Aura can't heal it. He didn't think we'd need them now, but I still carried them. Dad and I get into position to intercept him. I hide in an alley as Dad follows the target. The plan is pretty simple. Dad goes after him and if he passes where I’m hiding, I take him down. He said it will be a piece of cake.

I hear an argument going in the street. “Go back inside!” I hear one man say. I’m guessing that’s Shade. Then I hear running.

“Merc!” my dad calls out. That’s my cue. I jump out and see… a little girl. “Stop her!” I don’t know why, but I do as I’m told. I hold her as she starts screaming. I cover her mouth to make sure no one hears. I simply watch as my dad fights hers. I still wonder how he’s able to fight when he’s drunk off his ass, but he does. He eventually subdues him by breaking his leg. That certainly should keep him from going anywhere.

He waves me over and I bring the girl with me. I’m honestly not sure about any of this. I see him on the ground, sorrow in his eyes. “Not in front of my daughter,” Shade says. “Please.”

“Shut up!” My dad takes the girl and takes out one of his guns. He hands one to me and uses the other to hold the girl. “He’s your kill now.” I hesitate. He really expects me to kill this guy in front of his own daughter? I’m not saying I wouldn’t kill him otherwise, but it seemed unnecessary to let her watch. “Come on, Merc. Just do it.”

“If you’re gonna kill her, at least do that first,” I say. “She doesn’t need to see this.”

“She is going to die anyway!” he harshly whispers back. And I know why she has to die. She’s a witness. We couldn’t have witnesses. There’s no one out here at night, so it made this easier to ambush him. Having her around complicated things.

I still have some standards though. Don’t let the last thing the girl sees to be her father’s death. “Come on, dad. She doesn’t have to see this.”

“I’m not gonna let you stall. I know you’re gonna hesitate. We need to be out before people hear the gunshots. The sooner we get out after the first one, the less likely it will be for anyone to find us. Now quit stalling and shoot him.”

I look into the girl’s eyes and see tears falling from her face. I almost want to shoot her first and then kill her dad. At least then, she won’t die seeing her dad die at the end. And chances are he’s nothing like my dad. So, that would actually be a shame. I slowly take aim at his head and he looks up at me one last time with a bloody lip and swollen eyes. “Please…” he begs. “Not in front of her…”

I don’t know if I can do this. Still, I see my dad’s furious eyes looking back at me. I know how he’ll react if I don’t. I can’t just stand here and do nothing. “Do it!”

Before I even know what happened, I pull the trigger. I hear the girl’s muffled scream through Dad’s hand. But it’s cut off by the second gunshot through her head. He lets the girl’s body fall. “Let’s get out of here,” he says. Leaving the bodies where they lay. It didn’t have to be like this. But of course, old man Marcus doesn’t care about the lives. Just give him a paycheck and he’ll do whatever he has to. (Or just give him a bottle of booze and that’ll do the trick.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **EDIT:** (4/16/2018) I decided to name Stevens' daughter Sapphire because it was bugging me that she didn't have a name. It has no real relevance, but I thought I might add that extra tidbit. Mercury doesn't know because Marcus never cared to tell him anything about it.


	3. Hate and the Beatings

We get home and I already see Mom on the couch smoking a cigarette and watching TV. Even still, that doesn’t stop my dad from punching me in the chest again after we get home. “You shouldn’t have hesitated, Mercury! I thought I taught you better than to start feeling guilty when you get a target!” With that, he kicks me in the gut as I’m on the ground. “For once in your life, why can’t you do anything right?!”

He storms off to grab another bottle of scotch, only to find that it’s empty. As I get up, he throws the bottle in my direction. I barely dodge it and bits of glass fall to the ground. “Melanie!” he shouts. “I thought I told you to get more whiskey! We’re out!”

“I thought you two just came back from a job,” she says with disdain. “Shouldn’t you have money to spare, you lazy shit?” She’s probably still not happy about us skipping out on dinner. Not the beatings. She didn’t get angry about a few bruises. It was the fact that he blew off dinner again and decided to take me with him. It’s things like that that make me wonder if she really is any better than Dad.

“Unbelievable,” he mutters. With that, he heads for the front door and walks past the broken glass. “Clean this up already.” He went out and slammed the door shut. He just made me clean up his mess. As usual. He knew Mom wasn’t gonna do it. So that left me. Is that unfair? Well, of course, it is. But when has anything in my life ever been fair? Dad spent half his time beating up everyone in sight and the other half drinking himself to death. (And I’m still waiting for the death part.) Mom only spewed profanities and shouted at us when we did something she didn’t remotely like.

Remember when I said that this stopped being distressing and started becoming annoying? This is what I meant. It’s really just routine at this house. And I hated every second of it. Mom was getting beat up same as I was. But did she do anything to help me? No. She just sat to the side and got angry with me whenever things weren’t going her way. And for some of the dumbest reasons as well. Not something like Dad breaking her arm. No. More like forgetting the anniversary of a marriage that she didn’t even like! I hated all of it.

As I grab a broom and dustpan to clean up the glass, I hear Mom on her scroll. “He’s not here,’ she says. “How soon can you get over here?” Well, there goes any chance of sleeping tonight. I know exactly who she’s calling. Or at least, what she’s calling for. “Alright, I’ll see you then.” She hangs up and takes another drag from her cigarette. I dump the glass into the trash with a scowl on my face.

I walk back over to my mom and ask, “Why do you even stay here?”

“What?”

“You don’t like Dad. You don’t like me. And for some reason, you still act like we’re the problem. So why don’t you just leave?”

“The fuck do you wanna know for?”

“Because you complain and complain, but you never even try to get out of here. Instead, you just shout at us for being terrible and then go back with one of your boyfriends! Why don’t you just get out of here already?!”

She stands up and glares at me. Just before smacking me in the face. “Listen to me you little shit. You should learn to keep your nose out of other people’s goddamn business.”

“It affects me, too! It affects the whole family! I’m pretty sure that’s my business!”

As I talk, she punches me in the mouth. She’s not that strong, so it won’t crack a tooth. But it still hurt like crazy. “ ** _I will break your fucking neck if you dare talk back to me again, Mercury!_** Let me ask you a question. Why are _you_ still here? Explain that. After all this time, why are you still fucking _breathing_? Because it seems like if I could leave at any time, you sure as shit can, too. But instead, you come and complain to me about it! Even worse, most of the time, you just take the shit that the deadbeat father of yours give you! What’s stopping _you_?”

Yeah. As you can see, my mom isn’t really the nurturing one in the family. I dare you to find a worse mom than her because frankly, I can’t think of one.

“Well,” she shouts, “got anything to say?” I just look back at her, holding my jaw in pain. “That’s what I fucking thought. Now go to bed. I’m not dealing with any more of this bullshit tonight.” She sits back down and keeps smoking.

If you’re wondering how these two haven’t murdered each other or me in sixteen years, your guess is as good as mine. Even trying to figure out why she hadn’t left clearly didn’t yield results. Honestly, my best guess for why Dad hasn’t done it is because no one paid him. Though, I doubt that should be an issue.

* * *

 A few months later and my home life hasn’t gotten much better. They’ve gotten a little better. Dad stopped getting angry so often. I still ended up with bruises regularly, but things weren’t as often. It was only like once a week instead of once a day. (Such an improvement, I know.) And I think that Mom stopped shouting as often. Though, I’m pretty sure that’s because she needed to stop losing her voice. (Smoking and yelling a lot isn’t very good for your throat.) Still, she didn’t do it as often.

Dad started taking me out for more hits. I’ve had to kill four people with him. Maybe if I was younger, I would’ve had a bigger problem with it. But dad started getting me into his torture sessions. And honestly, I must say he can get pretty creative. He taught me the reason why you shouldn’t put lightning Dust on your tongue. I mean, that was pretty much common sense, but it’s nice to see it in action. And I must say, Dad’s interests in torture… I can kinda see where he’s coming from. I still don’t like the guy, but it’s something we do have in common.

And we had more of this tonight. Dad took the target downstairs to the basement. The daughter of some old millionaire. Apparently, the guy who hired him specifically told him to make her suffer for extra money. Right now, he cuffs her to the back a pole downstairs. She’s already gagged and keeps screaming. Only muffled by the gag. “Mercury,” he says, “go get my stuff.”

As soon as I go to grab the tools, I hear Mom’s voice saying. “Guys! Dinner’s ready!”

“We’ll get it later!” he replies.

“It’s ready right now! Get your asses up here!”

“Don’t listen to her Mercury. Just get the stuff.”

“I am kinda hungry,” I say.

“You’ll get to eat. Get the tools,” he demands.

As soon as I go to grab them, I hear a gunshot and it seriously startles me. Both Dad and I look up at the stairs to the basement and see Mom pointing a gun at us. Absolutely furious. “Get the fuck up here and come eat.”

Dad only crosses his arms. “Or else what?”

Mom points the gun at the girl. “I’ll kill her.”

“So?”

“I know you’re getting paid extra for your little torture session, Marcus! I heard what you were talking about on that call! You wanna get that bonus? Then get then you can do it once you get upstairs and fucking eat!”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’ve been busting my ass to make sure that we get some food tonight. You’re not gonna skip out on this shit again. She won’t be going anywhere. Get. Up. Here. Now.”

I look in her eyes and I can tell she’s not bluffing. And while it doesn’t look like he’s too bothered, I know he knows it as well. “Fine.” He reluctantly goes upstairs and I follow him. I don’t know what happened to Mom, but I know something inside her snapped.

 

We sit at the table eating in silence. Mom still has the gun next to her plate as she eats, and it’s pointed straight at Dad. She definitely doesn’t want him leaving this table. And I can tell he doesn’t wanna be there. I see him reach for his hip and pulls out his flask. “Put that shit away,” she says.

He slams his fist on the table. “I can have a drink if I want, woman!” She only sneers at him as he takes a swig.

I can already feel the tension in the room. “It’s pretty good,” I say. Just as an attempt to ease tension.

“Thank you,” Mom says. Dad only grumbles much to her displeasure. We keep eating in silence. Dad only eats half the food on his plate before getting up. Mom doesn’t even hesitate to grab the gun and points it at him. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going to do my job,” he says, “I’m done eating.”

“There’s still food on your plate. Keep fucking eating.”

“What? Are you gonna hold me hostage at this table?!” Oh, great…

“Just eat the goddamn food! When the plate is empty, you can leave!”

Dad just squints at her. “Empty plate? Fine.” Dad dumps the food out on the floor and I see a fire light up in her eyes.

As soon as he storms off, Mom picks up the plate and slams it into the back of his head. “ **YOU SON OF A BITCH!** ”

He turns to her with fury in his eyes. Before she can get a word out, he punches her in the face and starts beating her again. He knocks her on the ground and stomps on her face before walking back down to the basement.

Mom doesn’t cry. She never cries. She just pulls herself up and walks back to the table. I can even hear her growling with anger. She sits down again and keeps eating. “So,” I say, “you’re just gonna keep putting up with this?”

She throws her fork down on the table and shouts, “Shut up! Shut the fuck up and eat! I don’t need your goddamn advice!”

“You know he’ll kill you if you keep this up.”

“You know what?! I hope he kills you! You are not the boss of me! And it would do you well to remember that!”

“I’m just saying –“

“And that’s the fucking problem right now! You’re still talking when you should be eating!” She keeps eating her meal. I honestly don’t know what’s worse. That she gets abused and refuses to do anything about it or the fact that she decides to take it out on me. I’d feel worse for her if she didn’t act like this.

It’s not long until I hear the girl downstairs screaming in pain. Mom doesn’t react. She’s not even angry about the screaming like she usually is. I hate this so much. I hate Dad’s beatings, I hate Mom’s shouting, I hate every aspect of this. My family is a mess and it seems like they have no interest in taking responsibility for it.

At this point, both of those guys could drop dead right now and I wouldn’t care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah. Marcus and Melanie are not great parents. That much is obvious. What Melanie did wasn't at all justified, but it really wasn't supposed to be. It shouldn't be that surprising that Mercury ended up the way he did.
> 
> This'll be the last chapter that comes out for a while since I'll be a lot busier starting tomorrow. Don't expect updates to be coming out anytime soon. I'll try my best to get them out when I can.


	4. Overrun (Bonus Chapter)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mercury tries to keep his parents out of his personal life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **IMPORTANT NOTE:** This is a bonus chapter uploaded in April. (I backlogged/will backlog it to keep the story completed at 01-21-2018. Just an OCD thing.) I just thought that I should be transparent about it.
> 
> And I added this chapter to add a plot point that will be important in Chapter 19 of _CRME_. If you're reading this story for the first time, this will all be irrelevant. But for those coming from _CRME_ , then you

I stand in the alley just to relax. Dad let me out to "let me get some fresh air" (spend some time drinking half the alcohol in the house). I honestly don't mind. Anything to let me forget about my parents is worth it. Mom was out with some other guy, I'm sure. (She didn't say where she was going, but I have a feeling she'll be gone for a while.)

"Hey," I hear. I turn and see a dark-skinned guy walking towards me. He looks like he's my age. "Hey, are you busy right now?"

I've got nothing better to do. I'll bite. "No," I reply. "Not really. What's up?"

"I, uh..." He seems nervous as he looks at his feet. "Screw it, I'll be blunt. I just thought you were... attractive." Well, he's not wrong. "I didn't know if you'd be interested, but I just had to let you know."

I chuckle, "Thanks." To be honest, He is kinda cute in a way. I mean, I've always been interested in girls, but I've had an interest in guys. I hadn't told my dad about it because he didn't seem to care much about it. And my mom... well, she wouldn't be that happy about that. So I haven't had a chance to really explore that aspect of myself. I've kissed a few girls, but I never got much further than that. They usually find me cute, but I can't really do much since I'm always training with my dad. And I haven't really done anything with a guy. You know what? Maybe I can take the opportunity. "What's your name?"

He seems pretty happy. "Cobalt. Cobalt Michaels."

"Mercury Black."

He smiles at me. "Nice to meet you, Mercury."

"Same here, Cobalt," I say as I smirk at him.

"Hey, um... can I... can I kiss you?"

Honestly, I don't understand why he's so nervous. Then again, I've always been confident enough to talk to girls. I guess he's new at this. So, I'll surprise him. I take his face and his lips meet with mine. I kiss him harder as I push him against a wall. His tongue makes its way into my mouth as my tongue probes his. He's not bad. I'll give him that considering he was so nervous coming over here. "Wanna go a little further?" I whisper to him.

Cobalt hesitates. "I... I haven't ever..."

"Don't worry. I haven't done it either." He seems surprised. "I know. Someone as charming and attractive as me. Trust me. It's not for lack of ability." I would honestly prefer my first time to be with a girl, but I'm not gonna complain. "Why don't we go to your house?"

"That's not a good idea. My dad kinda hates me for this. Bringing you would only give him a reason to beat me."

I sigh. "Yeah... I know how that is." I don't think bringing him home with me would help. Mom... isn't home right now. "But I think we can go to my place."

"You don't seem sure about that."

"Well, my mom would hate this, but she's not there right now. And my dad wouldn't care. We might have an hour."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah. Worst case scenario, my dad wakes up and he's drunkenly surprised that I'm into guys. We'll be fine. Come on." Cobalt follows me to my house. He seems pretty excited about this, and yeah. It's a bit of a big deal. But I'm not exactly gonna make a big deal about it.

* * *

I take Cobalt back home and I notice that my dad is in his room. Probably passed out at this point. "Are you sure about this?" he asks.

"As long as my mom doesn't get back, we'll be fine." Immediately, I kiss Cobalt immediately.

He seems a bit nervous and blushes as I kiss his neck. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah." I push him onto the couch. "Come on. You don't wanna do this?"

"No, I do, but I'm worried about your mom."

"She's not coming back soon. And all we have to worry about is -" I'm interrupted by the sound of Dad groaning just before we hear glass shattering against a wall. I guess he ran of whiskey. "...my dad."

"Mercury!" he shouts. "Get me another bottle!"

I sigh. "Get your own."

"What was that?!"

Now Cobalt is getting scared. "Are you sure about this?"

Dad barges out of his room, furious. "I told you to..." He freezes when he sees me laying on top of Cobalt. "What is this?"

"New boyfriend," I say.

He grumbles. I can hear his speech slurring as he says, "Oh, gods... Where is your mother?"

"Out. And you know where."

He randomly pulls out a knife and points it at me. "Do you wanna say that again, son?!"

And now Cobalt is terrified. "Don't get angry at me for what your wife does!" He throws the knife and it sticks into the arm of the couch.

"You know what, I'll punch her in the mouth when she gets back!" He grabs another bottle from the liquor cabinet and stumbles back into his room.

"Does that sort of thing happen a lot?" Cobalt asks. Honestly, I don't blame him for that question.

"Unfortunately," I answer, "yes. My dad is literally a maniac."

"How are you not dead?"

"I ask myself that question every day." But I'm not interested in getting into my crappy home life. I just keep kissing him on the couch. "Just ignore it." But unfortunately, as my hands get down to his belt to unbuckle it...

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"

We both look up and see my mom, and she's livid. Of course, she comes home early. Just my luck. "Mom, don't get upset."

"Are you _fucking_ shitting me?!" She slams the door shut as I get up from the couch. "I catch you making kissy faces some boy on the motherfucking couch and you expect me not to get upset?! My son is not gonna be some cocksucking faggot!"

"Mom, shut up!"

She lunges for my neck. And I dodge her attacks easily. " _Don't you fucking dare disrespect me!_ "

Now, Dad's getting involved. "What is going on?!" He looks at my mom and says, "Oh, you're back."

"Marcus, did you see this shit?"

"Our son making out with some kid on the couch? Why do you care?"

"Because my son isn't gonna be a fucking queer!"

Cobalt sheepishly rises from the couch. "Maybe I should go." And I honestly don't blame him.

Mom grabs his arm. "You're not going anywhere! Marcus! Kill him! Now!" Okay, this escalated quickly. And Cobalt is terrified.

And of course, Dad (not caring about anything) doesn't react much beyond a sarcastic smirk. "How much are you paying?" he remarks.

She stomps over to him. "Don't give me that, you son of a bitch. You'd kill someone for fucking free and you know it!"

"What is she talking about?" Cobalt asks me. And I really don't feel like explaining.

But the answer is cut off by Dad punching Mom in the mouth. He yells, "I don't have to deal with you're problems, Mel! If you want him dead, kill him yourself!"

"Now, you might wanna run," I say.

However, she just growls and attempts to punch him, but she grabs her wrist and breaks it. And Dad only has a smug smile on his face as he watches her writhe in pain. She shouts at him, "You fucking asshole!" She gets back up and gets her keys. "I'm going to the emergency room." She gets in my face and spits, "Get that faggot out of here by the time I get back or I'll personally beat both of you to death. And if I see you or any other queer together again, you'll be lucky to have a home." She walks past me and leaves the house.

I'm only annoyed, but Cobalt is terrified. I sigh, but then I hear my dad say, "What's your name, kid?"

He turns to Dad. "What?" Cobalt asks.

"Your name. What is it?"

"...Cobalt Michaels?"

Dad's smile grows. It doesn't look good. Please don't tell me that Cobalt is related to someone he killed. "Was your mom's name Azura?"

Cobalt freezes in his place. "How did you know that?"

He starts chuckling. Please don't say it, Dad. "Because I tortured her to death for 70,000 Lien!"

"What?!" You just had to say it, didn't you, Dad?

"Yeah," he says as he laughs harder. "Oh, man. You should've heard her screaming! It was priceless!"

And I could already see Cobalt getting angrier. While I would love for him to straight up murder my dad right here, someone else hired him. So, I should at least let him get the revenge he deserves. "Dad," I ask, "who paid you for the job?"

He keeps laughing. "Oh, you're gonna love this, kid. The man who paid me for this job? None other..." He pauses like he's trying to build suspense. "...than Jaylin Michaels!" And that seemed to be the final nail in the coffin. "He told me that woman was supporting his disgrace of a son. And I'm guessing that would be you. And if he thinks in any way like my wife, I see why he felt that way."

The drunken man keeps laughing as he stumbles away. I turn to Cobalt and tell him, "Look, I obviously had no idea. You have to believe me." It seems like he didn't want to hear it because he immediately left the house, slamming the door shut.

Honestly, if I ever get married, I guess this proves something that I should've known the whole time: Don't bring them home to the parents.

* * *

The next day, I woke up and saw that Mom didn't decide to make food today. I guess she was so mad about Cobalt yesterday that she didn't feel like giving us food for the morning. That's exactly the kind of thing she'd do. Dad was still passed out from drinking all night. I'm not gonna bother waking him up since I don't feel like getting punched in the face.

Then I see something on the news. That Lisa chick introduces the story. "And in other news, the police have arrested Cobalt Michaels for the murder of his father. Police found him stabbing the man to death..." I guess he finally got the balls to take out his old man. After hearing about him last night, he definitely deserves it.

However, the moment is ruined by what my mom has to say. "Ha! Good riddance. Now that faggot is gonna rot in jail. See, Merc, this is why you shouldn't be a fucking queer like this kid." My fists clench as I hear her comments. Honestly, I'm thinking about doing the same thing. I mean, I could definitely get away with it since Dad has taught me a lot about it. Funny how those lessons could be the reason he disappears for good. And hopefully, Mom will be joining him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I do hope this chapter looks good to you guys. And to let you know, I'll be working on editing _An Emerald Unearthed_ as well. I wanted to extend it because Silva's return to Emerald's life seemed to come too early, so I'll be either adding some stuff to Chapter 3 or splitting it and adding more stuff to those splits.
> 
> Fun Fact: The Michaels family all have names relating to the color blue. And cobalt is a transition metal just like mercury. "NERD!" Yeah, I know. But you're reading _RWBY_ fanfiction. We're all nerds here. Embrace it!
> 
> "


	5. Ripped from the Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mercury stays with his father in the mountains after his mother leaves them. But Mercury starts to put his foot down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those returning to the fic and noticed the title, you're not going crazy. This isn't a new fic. I just changed the title because I wasn't particularly fond of the other one. I did want to keep Mercury's first name in the title, but I couldn't come up with anything that was great. So, I changed it to this. Something that has a bit more symbolism. (And technically, Mercury's name is in the title. His last name at least.)
> 
> So, there's the reasoning behind the title changing. I know it might be a bit jarring, but that's the reason why. And I'll also be doing some other minor edits to set up certain important story elements later. I'll explain those elements once they become relevant in the notes.

After about a year, Dad decided he wanted some time away from the city. So, he took me, and we went up to the mountains. You might be wondering, “What about your mom?” Well, despite what you may be assuming, he didn’t go up there to hide her dead body. Mom left shortly before we left for this place. Yeah, now she decides to take my advice and leave. Though, honestly, it may just be because she was liking one of her boyfriends more than Dad and decided to live with him. I don’t suspect it’ll last.

But she’s gone now. She’ll be making someone else’s life miserable. Unfortunately, I’m still left with the worse one of the two. He was still putting me through Hell with his training. “Get better with your legwork.” “Don’t mess up your stance.” “Your high kicks could use some work.” At one point, I almost thought he just wanted me fighting with my legs. He didn’t ease up on me at all. And still, oddly coordinated for a man who was constantly drunk. I guess that’s why he still gets jobs as an assassin.

Speaking of which, in case you’re wondering, Dad still took some jobs. Not as many, but he still made a killing off of them. (No pun intended.) To be fair, he didn’t move that far away from the city, so people didn’t have to travel longer than a couple hours away. And more importantly for him, he didn’t have to travel that far away to go get booze. He practically stank up the place with the smell of alcohol. Sometimes, he’d be gone for a whole night just at a bar.

He’d come home with a hangover and a new need to beat me unconscious. Thankfully, he couldn’t do it because he was so hungover. But that still didn’t mean he didn’t have something in mind for me when he got over it. Compared to Dad, I kinda wanted to stay with Mom. At least with her, I didn’t have to get bruises every time she was anything more than slightly annoyed.

“Mercury!” my dad says. “Get me a beer!” Oh, yeah. That’s one upside that Mom had. The house wouldn’t constantly be smelling like cheap alcohol. I reluctantly get up and grab a can of beer out and hand it to him while he’s watching TV. He ripped it out of my hands without so much as a “thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I gripe.

“You want a cookie or something?”

“Actually, I’d like a good father, but I’m stuck with you.”

“Oh, suck it up!”

I stand there for a moment, thinking of what to say to that. Instead, I just walk away. I don’t have time to bother with him anymore. Unless it involved training, he did his own thing and I did mine. We didn’t bother with it anymore. And it almost worked.

I hear him crushing the beer can and tossing it to the side. “Come on, son,” he says. “Tine to train.”

Still, I have to deal with this stuff. “I don’t really feel like training today.”

“If you didn’t notice, I never asked if you ‘felt like’ training.” As he walks out the door, I only grimace in his direction. Of course, that would be his response. I walk outside with him and he goes into his normal routine. “Start with your battle stance.” I spread my legs apart (only about four feet apart, like he says), and I put my hands up. As he takes his stance, he says, “Much better. Your stance isn’t completely atrocious.”

Seriously, I want to punch him in the mouth. Chances are, I won’t get the chance to do that. He still manages to wipe the floor with me. He still goes for my legs a lot and I try to adjust, but I can never can never quite get my footing back. It seems to be his way of telling me to work on my legwork. I’d take it to heart more if he didn’t punch me in the face while I was trying to regain my balance.

As I get up, he goes for a swig of whiskey. Training’s done. That’s usually how things ended. Him deciding that it’s time for more liver damage. “You’re getting better, but you’re still awful.”

“You know,” I say as I get up, “I might learn a bit faster if you, I dunno, actually teach me stuff instead of fighting me and hoping for the best.”

“Best learning is through experience. No need to teach.”

“Is that it or is it just because you’d be an absolutely crappy teacher and don’t wanna admit it.”

I know that hit a nerve. You wanna know why? Because he threw his whiskey bottle at me and I could tell it still had some in there. But he didn’t even hesitate like he usually would. If he’s angry enough to waste alcohol in any way other than drinking it, then you know it’s serious. Especially if it’s whiskey. Luckily, I’m able to dodge it. But he just storms inside. I leave the bottle in the dirt and go back in myself.

Inside, I see Dad back on the couch whiskey in hand. “Why did you ever marry Mom?”

“Why do you care?”

“For some reason, you never liked having her around or me, so why did you marry her? Why did you have me?”

“Do you have a problem with that? If you put up a good price I can just take you out of this world.”

That does it. “You might as well be trying to do that during your stupid ‘training’! I won’t get better if you barely teach me anything! I’m just supposed to figure it out myself.”

Dad looks back at me. “Do you know why I do it, Mercury? You know why I’m so tough on you during the training?”

“Because you’re an asshole?”

“Because you wouldn’t last a day on your own! I’m making sure that when my son leaves this house that he’s not gonna end up dying in some gutter because of a stupid mistake! Though honestly, at this rate, it’s a hopeless effort.”

“Why do you even care?! You hate me, don’t you?! You only tell me that like twice a week! You never cared about me! So, why pretend that this isn’t anything more than you trying to beat someone defenseless up for your own amusement?”

“That’s not what it is!”

“Just admit it. You didn’t care about Mom, you don’t care about me, and you definitely don’t care whether or not I live or die. Honestly, I’m thinking that the only reason you haven’t killed me is that you’re not getting paid for it.”

“At least I’m doing something that pays. Whose job pays for this place? Who pays for the Dust keeping everything running? Who’s paying for the water, the heat, the food? Oh, that’s right! I am! I don’t remember you doing anything that ever made one Lien that provided for anything in this house. So, the next time you wanna be cocky, why don’t you take a moment to consider your real place in this house.”

As he takes another swig from the bottle, I say to him, “Well at least I don’t spend my days drinking myself half to death.”

“I’m an adult, and I can drink if I want.”

“You drink as if it’s your sustenance. You think that’s just normal.”

“I think that it shouldn’t be any of your concern!”

“Honestly, I don’t care! I don’t care about you or Mom! You guys never cared about me, so why should I care about you? Who wants to have two parents who beat you and shout at you for no reason while saying that they hate you?”

“Oh!” he says sarcastically. “Then why do you feel the need to point it out?”

“I’m just hoping you realize how pathetic your life really is. You live in the mountains with your son because your wife left you probably for some man younger and more good-looking than you. And you spend most of your time getting drunk and beating me up.” I don’t know where this sudden burst of bluntness came from, but I’m not backing down now. I’ve had over seventeen years of grievances to let out.

Finally, he gets out of his chair. “You know I was a soldier in Atlas, right? You think that’s pathetic?”

“The keyword being ‘was.’ You were a soldier. And a disgraced soldier at that. Just got in to get your kicks from killing a few people. And dishonorably discharged after an assault on Vacuo, right? I’d call that pretty pathetic.”

He throws a punch, but I dodge it and grab his arm. I pull him forward and watch him drunkenly stumble to the ground. He tries to grab my legs, but I kick his hands away every time. My feet move almost like I’m playing soccer. I can tell it’s making him angrier.

But all I do is shake my head as I step away. He pulls himself up using the back of the couch. “You know, I don’t think you can really get more pathetic than that.”

“And you’re the kid who was never able to defeat, as you would say, a ‘pathetic drunken mess’ like me.” My smile shrinks now and turns into a scowl. But his smile grows in return. “It hurts, doesn’t it? Knowing just how inferior you really are?” Knowing that your life doesn’t mean anything.”

“Shut up.” I don’t even have the energy for a comeback.

“You wanna know something, Mercury?”

“What?”

Suddenly, he goes to attack me, I realize it fast enough to block, but he goes even faster. A right cross to the eye and a left hook to the chin. I try to keep my footing, but he kicks my feet from under me. “I’ve been going easy on you this whole time.” My eyes widen slightly just from reflex. You’ve got to be kidding me. “Yeah. That’s one reason why I never took it easier on you. If you couldn’t beat me then, you were hopeless.”

I get up and back away from him into the kitchen. “But now,” he says, “I’m not holding back.” I grab a knife and swipe at him. “If you think it’ll help, go ahead.”

“You wouldn’t kill me.”

“Actually, this time,” a large, deranged smile grows on his face, “I’ll kill you free of charge.”


	6. Harder than Iron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mercury versus Marcus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna say up front that this fight scene was difficult to write. So, if it kinda sucks, I apologize. I'm better at writing character and plots. Fights still manage to elude me.

This is not good. Dad is going to kill me. I guess I should’ve expected it, but I didn’t think it would happen like this. I back up into the kitchen and grab a knife to defend myself. Not that it helps much. Every time I try to swipe at him he dodges it and punches me. I try to go for his neck and he just moves out of the way. Then, he punches me in the chest.

I jump up onto the counter and grab one of his whiskey bottles. I toss it on the ground. The bottle shatters and liquid spills all over the floor. He’s already trying to kill me, so I guess doing that won’t really make things any worse. I jump from the counter to the island while kicking him in the face. Barely make the landing as he tries to go after me. Thankfully, he does what I expect and slips on the whiskey as soon as he runs after me.

“Need to work on your legwork, Dad.” I jump down in front of him with the knife in my hand. I start to crouch and get ready to stab him, but he pulls my ankle and makes me fall on my back. It makes me drop the knife. Great.

“Feel like running that by me again, Mercury?” he says as he stands back up. Okay, I admit that I walked right into that one. As he tries to step on my chest, I roll out of the way and push myself back up. Just in time to get punched in the mouth. “You know you’re not better than me.”

He raises his foot to kick me in the face, but I grab his leg push him back. “Wanna bet?”

He glares back at me. I run back to stab him, and he runs out of the way. He grabs the back of my head before slamming my face into the wall. I kick him in the stomach and it gives me a chance to go back and punch him in the eye. I wasn’t expecting that to work, but I’m not getting cocky now. I punch again, but he blocks every time. I’m just waiting for a moment that he gives me an opening.

All to no use when he shoves me into the dining room. He walks in as I get back up. I set my hands on the table, push myself up, and use the leverage to kick him in the chin. I bet you he wasn’t expecting that. As I hop up on the table he grabs my leg and pulls me down on my back. He gets up there too and puts his hands around my neck to choke me. I use my knee to hit him in the gut. I grab his arms and flip him off the table and onto the ground.

I get back on the ground and pick up a chair to hit him with. As he gets back up, I swing it in his face. That knocks him on the ground long enough. I take it with me on my way out of the room. I take it and jam it under the handle to lock him in. I already hear him slamming his fists on the door. I try to look for a gun, but I can only find one quickly. I check it to make sure it has bullets. Thankfully, it does. I still hear him banging on the door. Then I get another idea.

I look for some matches in the kitchen. I find them and set the puddle of alcohol on fire. At this rate, his liquor cabinet will set the whole place ablaze before he could even make it. One could only hope. I get out of that burning house as soon as I could. I’ll leave him to burn in there. Good. He deserves it. I hope he suffers for what he did while he struggles to get out. The thought makes smile. And here I was thinking that it was gonna be difficult. It was easy.

Suddenly, I feel a pipe hit me in the back. I barely have time to turn around to block it this time. I grab it just in time to see Dad’s deranged smile as I feel him pushing the pipe back. His face and clothes are covered in soot. “You forgot one important thing that I’ve told you about killing someone, son,” he snarls as he pushes me back. “When you have an important kill to make…” He holds the pipe back up again as he prepares to hit me again. “The target isn't dead… until you see the body.”

He swings the pipe again and I try my best to dodge. He really isn’t messing around. I grab the pipe during one of his swings. I try to pry it out of his hands. Unfortunately, he catches on and lets go of it. The bar hits me in the face as I fall backward. Not helped by Dad chuckling at it. He was always a master at adding insult to injury.

I get back up quickly and hold the pipe up. “If you think it’ll help, go for it,” he says. Oh, I am gonna wipe that smug look off of his face. I swing the pipe for his face and he dodges every swing I take. He kicks me in the chest before punching me in the face. I use the pipe to block, but he grabs it and punches me in the ribs. The cheap bastard pulls a gun out and tries to shoot me twice. My Aura deflects it, but it still kinda hurt. I try to use the pipe to knock the gun out of his hand. And surprisingly, it doesn’t work.

He rips the pipe from my hands like he had some kind of superhuman strength and knocks my legs right out from under me. And with it, he takes out the last bit of aura that I have. I jump up pretty quickly, though. This is it. I gotta be careful. “I must admit,” he says, “your legwork is getting much better.” He smirks, and then I remember that he’s still got a gun. He shoots both my knees and I go down, screaming in pain. “But you won’t have to worry much about that anymore.”

I’ve gotta do something. But then I remember the gun. He gets closer and I crawl away to hid me looking for the gun. “You know what the worst part of all of this is?” he asks. I have my hand on the gun right now. He just needs to get closer. “The worst part… is that I actually had hopes for you to improve. To be a better fighter. At least at first. But you just didn’t have what it takes.” Keep talking, buddy. You’ll be dead soon. He tosses the pipe to the side. I hear it land in the grass next to me. “It’s a shame that you were such a disappointment, son.”

I notice his legs getting close to mine. He probably doesn’t think I could trip him. As he gets ready to aim, I pick up my leg and kick him in the shin as I shoot him in the chest. He lowered his aura, so the bullets go right through him. As he falls to the ground next to me, I put the gun right at his neck. Finally, I see his eyes widen with fear. It's subtle, but I know he knows he's screwed. “And it’s a shame you were such a disappointment of a father.” The bullet goes right through his throat.

I let him bleed out and choke on his own blood. He’s finally going to die. Good. I must say, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I pull out the bandages from my pocket. Always bring them for wounds on the job he said. For once, his teachings actually help me. I weakly sit up and wrap gauze around my left knee. It still stings, and I already see the bandages getting bloody. I go to the right leg and wrap it as tightly as possible. Maybe that’ll stop the bleeding.

I don’t know what I’m gonna do. My legs are bleeding out, and I’m a long way away from any help. You know what? If I die on the way, at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I took Dad out first. That’s something to write home about. But still, I’m not gonna just lay here and die. I’ve got to at least try to get out of here. No matter how useless it may seem.

I turn over onto my stomach and use my arms to push myself up. I try to bend my knees and feel the pain shoot up my entire leg. I do the same with the other, screaming in pain. I guess I shouldn’t have expected it to be that easy. But just as I get back on my legs, I fall right back on my face. Well, at least I got a few feet away. I try it again. I’ll just try to get back on my feet. I just need to stand up.

I start pushing back up again. I get high enough to get one foot on the ground. Bending my knees still hurts like crap. But I just need to get the other one on the ground. I get it up and slowly try to stand upright. What surprises me is when I look back up.

I see a woman with dark hair and orange eyes in a crimson dress and heels. Next to her stands a dark-skinned girl with green hair and red eyes with nothing more than a green top that barely coves anything and a pair of cargo pants. Both the girls stare at me. The green-haired one looks with horror, but the one in the dress looks with intrigue.

“What?” I say. “What are you looking at?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep! Our two villainous ladies have found our boy Mercury! For those wondering, this will overlap with _CRME_. It will be explained more in the next update for that story if you're reading these as they're being updated.
> 
> Honestly, there are a lot of elements from the show that I missed out on including, but unfortunately, I don't really have time to add those in. However, as far as certain story elements go, I will be making a couple edits to the earlier chapters that will help make sense of certain things in this chapter (the bandage thing being one of them; really should've had him mention that in an earlier chapter).
> 
> At any rate, I'm hoping that you did enjoy the story. (Well, as much as you can enjoy such a story filled with emotional turmoil throughout.) I hope you enjoy the rest of the fics in this series. I'll be getting around to updating _Roman's Empire_ as soon as I can. (Still gonna be pretty busy. I just got very lucky with these past few days.) And I hope you stick along for the ride.


End file.
